Pronounced Kwan

"According to The Irish Times poll of last weekend, [m]ore than 60 per cent did not want Kenny as taoiseach [sic] and 65 per cent said they didn’t want Cowen as Taoiseach." - Vincent Browne.

I'd like to see a follow-up question, such as, "is there any politician you'd like to see as Taoiseach?" If 50 per cent said "no, they're all a shower of b@$!#rds," I would not be surprised. In a poll such as this, the questions asked (or not asked) are equally as important as the answers given. For example, why don't you want Cowen to be Taoiseach? Because of his mishandling of the economy and the banking sector. Reasonable enough. However if asked, why don't you want Kenny to be Taoiseach, and the answer comes back, em...there's just something about him. He seems like a nice fella but...you know... Sarah Carey in the Irish Times is more succinct in her analysis when she says the Fine Gael problem is one of "conveying an air of authority without actual authority."


Voters in Ireland don't vote for a Taoiseach. Polls in opposition are personality contests and Enda Kenny's inability or unwillingness to woo the post-Bertie electorate, is his (perceived) Achilles heel. The electorate is a like scorned lover. That smooth-talking, snake charmer, Ahern, broke our hearts but we still want a bad boy.


Another factor to consider is if 65 per cent of those polled did not want Cowen as Taoiseach and when asked about Kenny, that same question results in a differential of only 5 per cent, one is left to wonder; are these the sort of opinions we should be taking seriously. After all as Vincent Browne went on to write in his Irish Times column of Brian Cowen:

More than any other person, possibly with the exception of Bertie Ahern, Brian Cowen bears responsibility for both the economic collapse and the banking collapse. The recent revelation he interfered with the financial regulator in the latter’s attempt to get bank directors to sign statements of compliance with proper bank practice is, itself, devastating to his credibility, that is if he had any credibility left to be devastated.

If Bruton becomes leader the irony of such an outcome is that, as the past few days have shown, he is not nearly as savvy a political operator as Kenny has proven to be. Bruton and his camp have behaved like a teenage boy, who moments after a first kiss with a beautiful girl (way out of your league) clumsily and in a panic (thinking, this may never happen again), gropes her breast, much to her dismay. She gets up and leaves (probably with Kenny).


The Irish Times have a formidable reputation and illustrious history but a poll, such as this, is self-serving. It makes the news and as such undermines their journalistic independence. One could argue that the challenge to Kenny's leadership has arisen because he doesn't sell enough newspapers. He's not box-office enough. Vincent Browne ends his column by writing that no matter what the outcome of the FG power struggle "the charade of what we call democracy would persist." Is it democracy that a poll in a newspaper and the subsequent inflated and reactionary views of some of its journalists, sets the terms by which our (potential) leaders are measured?